System and Method for Inputting Preferences Into Recommender/Profiling System

ABSTRACT

A user profiling system that receives user command/control selections related to content currently being provided to the user. A processor acts on the command/control selections and also determines whether the command/control selections are volume related command/control selections. In a case where the command/control selections are volume related, the processor utilizes these volume related command/control selections as an input to a user profile of the user profiling system. The user profile may be utilized for providing recommendations of content to the user.

This invention generally relates to a system and method for inputtinguser audio/audiovisual preferences into a system. Specifically, thepresent invention relates to a non-intrusive system for capturing useraudio/audiovisual preferences for a recommender/profiling system.

Many systems are known for assisting users to select audio andaudiovisual content that the user may be desirous of listening to and/orwatching. The problem is greatly simplified when the user knows exactlywhat audio or audiovisual content the user wants to listen to or watch.In this instance, the user merely needs to select the contentexplicitly. However, in many instances, the user may desire beingpresented with content that they may like but are unfamiliar with. Thissituation is particularly true when a user is presented with largeamounts of content to select from.

Systems are known that receive input from a user in the form of implicitand/or explicit input about content that a user likes or dislikes. As anexample, co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/466,406, filed Dec. 17, 1999, by Gutta et al., entitled Method andApparatus for Recommending Television Programming using Decision Trees,incorporated herein by reference as if set out fully herein, disclosesan example of an implicit recommender system. These implicit recommendersystems recommend content (e.g., television content, audio content,etc.) to a user in response to stored signals indicative of a storeduser profile and user viewing/listening history. For example, atelevision recommender may recommend television content to a viewerbased on other television content that the viewer has selected forwatching. By analyzing content that was watched previously, thetelevision recommender, determines characteristics of the watchedcontent and then tries to recommend other content having similarcharacteristics. This process tends to be cumulative in that the morecontent that the television recommender analyzes (the more televisionshows that the viewer watches and that the television recommenderanalyzes), the better the recommendations from the televisionrecommender tend to be. In fact, many television recommender systemswork better as more content is analyzed. Many different types ofmathematical models are utilized to analyze the implicit data receivedto determine what a user may want to watch.

Another type of known television recommender system utilizes an explicitprofile to determine what a user may want to watch. An explicit profileworks similar to a questionnaire wherein the user typically is promptedby a user interface on the television display to answer explicitquestions about what types of content the user is likely to watch.Questions may include: what is the genre of content the viewer likes;what actors or producers the viewer likes; whether the viewer likesmovies or series; etc. These questions of course can also be moresophisticated as is known in the art. In this way, the explicittelevision recommender builds a profile of what the viewer explicitlysays they like or dislike.

Based on this explicit profile, the explicit recommender will suggestfurther content that the viewer is likely to also like. For instance, anexplicit recommender may receive information that the viewer enjoys JohnWayne action movies. From this explicit input, the recommender mayrecommend a John Wayne movie for viewing. Of course this is a verysimplistic example and as would be readily understood by a person ofordinary skill in the art, much more sophisticated analysis andrecommendations may be provided by an explicit recommender/profilingsystem. Other recommender systems are known, for example, co-pending,commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/666,401, filedSep. 20, 2000, by Kurapati et al., entitled Method and Apparatus forGenerating Recommendation Scores Using Implicit and Explicit Viewing,discloses an example of an implicit and explicit recommender system.U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/627,139, filed Jul. 27, 2000, byShaffer et al., entitled Three-way Media Recommendation Method andSystem, discloses an example of an implicit, explicit and feedback basedrecommender system. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/953,385, filedSep. 10, 2001, by Shaffer et al., entitled Four-Way RecommendationMethod and System Including Collaborative Filtering, discloses anexample of an implicit, explicit, feedback and collaborative filteringbased recommender system. Each of these systems are incorporated hereinby reference as if set out fully herein.

Problems exist in each of these systems in that they are limited in whatis examined for determining both implicit and explicit profile data.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome thedisadvantages of the prior art and provide additional data that may beanalyzed by a recommender/profiling system.

The present invention is a user profiling system that receives usercommand/control selections related to content currently being providedto the user. A processor acts on the command/control selections and alsodetermines whether the command/control selections are volume relatedcommand/control selections. In a case where the command/controlselections are volume related, the processor utilizes these volumerelated command/control selections as an input to a user profile of theuser profiling system.

In one embodiment, the processor identifies a previously establishedvolume level of reproduced content and compares the identified volumerelated command/control selections to the previously established volumelevel. In effect, a command/control selection to increase the volume ofcurrently reproduced content may be interpreted by the profiling systemas an indication that the user likes the currently reproduced content.In the same way, a command/control selection to decrease the volume ofcurrently reproduced content may be interpreted by the profiling systemas an indication that the user dislikes the currently reproducedcontent.

The profiling system may include a remote control device where the usermay input the command/control selection, and a memory coupled to theprocessor for storing the user profile. The profiling system may be partof a content recommender system for recommending content to the userbased on content previously reproduced for the user.

The following are descriptions of embodiments of the present inventionthat when taken in conjunction with the following drawings willillustrate one or more of the above noted features and advantages, aswell as further ones. It should be expressly understood that thedrawings are included for illustrative purposes and do not represent thescope of the present invention that is defined by the appended claims.The invention is best understood in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative system in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram illustrating an operation in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention.

In the discussion to follow, certain terms will be illustrativelydiscussed in regard to specific embodiments or systems to facilitate thediscussion. As would be readily apparent to a person of ordinary skillin the art, these terms should be understood to encompass other similarknown terms wherein the present invention may be readily applied. Forexample, the present invention will illustratively be described withregard to audio/visual content. This system would obviously also beapplicable to strictly audio content or a mixture of audio and othertypes of content. Each of these and any other applicable system shouldbe understood to be within the scope of the appended claims.

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative system 100 in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention including an output 110, operatively coupled toa processor 120, and a remote control device 130. The processor 120 andthe remote control device 130 are operatively coupled as is known in theart. This coupling is illustratively shown, via an infrared (IR)receiver 125, operatively coupled to the processor 120, and an IRtransmitter 131, operatively coupled to the remote control device 130.As would be readily appreciated, other forms of coupling may also beutilized, including but not limited to other wireless couplings such asradio frequency (RF) coupling, wired coupling, or any other couplingthat enables the devices to operate in accordance with the presentinvention.

The output 110 may illustratively be an audio/visual output such as atelevision or other device enabled to reproduce audiovisual content fora user. The processor 120 is operatively coupled to a memory 126 for useby the processor 120 to store user profile data in accordance with thepresent invention. As is known, the memory 126 may store profile data onthe user for the purposes of providing the user with suggested content.Accordingly, it should be understood that the processor 120 is enabledfor creating and or updating the profile for the user and for operationin receiving commands from the remote control 130. To this end, theprocessor 120 may utilize either or both of an implicit and explicitrecommendation scheme as is known in the art.

In receiving commands from the remote control 130, the processor is alsoenabled for acting on a command received as discussed further hereinbelow. The processor 120, IR receiver 125, and memory 126 together makeup a profiling (and recommender) system 140. Other components may alsobe utilized in this system as is known in the art.

The remote control device 130 may contain selector buttons that operateas is known in the art. Specifically, the remote control device 130 maycontain numerous user selector buttons 137A, 137B, 137C, 137D, 137E and132. These buttons may be content selector buttons, configurationcontrol buttons, etc. For example, button 132 may be a power on/offselector so that the user may turn on/off the output 110 and/or thecoupled profiling system 140. The remote control 130 may also containother control buttons, such as volume control buttons 139A, 139B forselecting the volume of reproduced content by the output 110.

In ordinary operation, processor 120 receives commands from the user asa result of the user manipulating the volume selector buttons 139A,139B. The manipulation of the volume selector buttons 139A, 139B causesthe processor 120 to initiate either of an increase or decrease in thereproduced volume of content as is known.

In accordance with the present invention, the manipulation of the volumeselector buttons 139A, 139B is also analyzed by the processor 120 forthe purposes of capturing implicit profiling information about the user.For example, in accordance with the present invention, the processor 120may interpret the user selection of an increase in volume of reproducedcontent as an indication that the current content is enjoyed by theuser. The processor 120 may interpret the user selection of a decreasein volume of reproduced content as an indication that the currentcontent is not enjoyed by the user. These indications may then be fedinto the profiling system 140 as implicit indications of the user'spreferences. The processor 120 may utilize these indications, togetherwith information on the content (e.g., identification of content,content genre, content performers, etc.) as input to an implicit profilefor the user. This profile either alone or together with other profiledata may then or thereafter be utilized for recommending further contentto the user.

Further operation of the present invention will be illustrated withreference to FIG. 2 that shows a flow diagram 200 in accordance with thepresent invention and previously discussed FIG. 1. Specifically, duringact 210 the system 100 reproduces content (e.g., plays audio content)for a user via output 110. This content is reproduced at a volume thatis previously established, for example, by a user previous volumeselection Thereafter, during act 220, the processor 120 awaits forreceipt of a user command/control function, for example via the remotecontrol 130. After a user command/control function is received, duringact 230 the processor 120 performs an ordinary function (e.g., volumeup/down, channel change, etc.) in accordance with the receivedcommand/control function. This ordinary function may also includeproviding a user with recommendations for content based on a stored userprofile. After the processor performs the user selected function, duringact 240, the processor 120 determines whether the receivedcommand/control function was a volume selection related command/controlfunction. In the event that the received command/control function wasnot a volume selection related command/control function, then theprocessor returns to act 220 to await receipt of further usercommand/control functions.

However, if the received command/control function was a volume selectionrelated command/control function, during act 250 the processor 120analyzes the received command/control function for use as input into theprofiling system. For example, if the received command/control functionwas a command to increase the volume of reproduced content, theprocessor may use this as an indication that the currently reproducedcontent is liked by the user and this information may be input into astored implicit profile (e.g., stored in memory 126) for the user. Ifthe received command/control function was a command to decrease thevolume of reproduced content, the processor may use this as anindication that the currently reproduced content is not liked by theuser and this information may be input into the stored implicit profilefor the user. The processor 120 may also use as input for the profilingsystem the amount of volume increase or decrease for the currentlyreproduced content.

Illustratively, in one embodiment of the present invention a defaultvolume level of a song (for comparison with any volume up/down commandsgiven by the user) may be deduced using a statistical function from pastinteraction. For example, one heuristic might be to take the averagevalue of the volume level over a given period of time. This may befurther qualified specifically for a given genre of content.Illustratively, once this default is established, the profiling system140 may monitor how much the user deviates from this default level whenlistening to particular content or content of the current genre.

Another heuristic may also take a frequency of volume up/down pressesinto account. In this, for example, two volume up commands for a givenpresented content may increase the probability that the user finds thecontent more interesting than if only one or no volume up commands weregiven. The frequency may need to be normalized by how often the usergives volume up/down commands. This may assist to compensate for things,such as, noisy environments, people with hearing problems, otherexternal factors, etc.

More sophisticated algorithms may also trace other remote controlcommands, together with volume control commands, to deduce feedback fromthose commands, including in combination with volume up/down commands.For example, “next” and “previous” commands, may also provideinformation for use in an implicit profiler. For example, a “Previous”command followed by “volume up” (2 times) indicates that the user wantsto listen to the same song again and at a higher volume level. This is astrong indication that this may be content that the user likes.

All this implicit information may be utilized by the processor 120 forproviding a future recommendation of content at the request of the user(e.g., during act 220). As should be readily understood, the indicationof preferences in accordance with the present invention (e.g., volumeselection) may be utilized alone or together with other known profiledata for providing the recommendation to the user.

Finally, the above-discussion is intended to be merely illustrative ofthe present invention. Numerous alternative embodiments may be devisedby those having ordinary skill in the art without departing from thespirit and scope of the following claims. For example, although theprocessor 120 is shown separate from the output 110, clearly both may becombined in a single device such as a television. In addition, theprocessor 120 may be a dedicated processor for performing in accordancewith the present invention or may be a general purpose processor whereinonly one of many functions operates for performing in accordance withthe present invention. In addition, the processor may operate utilizinga program portion, multiple program segments, or may be a hardwaredevice utilizing a dedicated or multi-purpose integrated circuit.

Further, although the volume selector buttons 139A, 139B are shown onthe remote control device 130, there is no real need for the volumeselector buttons 139A, 139B to be on a separate device than theprocessor 120, for example. Clearly the location or configuration ofvolume selector buttons 139A, 139B should not be understood to be alimitation on the following claims unless explicitly stated therein. Forexample, instead of volume up/down buttons, a jog dial button or anyother user interface or mechanism may be utilized to provide volumecontrol feedback to the profiling system 140.

In this or other embodiments, profiling system 140, including or simplythe processor 120 may be located remotely via, for example, the Internetor some other server one a network, such as a (wireless) home network.As a person of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate, the profilingsystem 140 does not have to be necessarily located locally. For example,in one embodiment, volume up/down commands received by an internet radiofrom a remote control may be forwarded to a server on the internet or inthe home that does the comparison.

Numerous alternative embodiments may be devised by those having ordinaryskill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of thefollowing claims. In interpreting the appended claims, it should beunderstood that:

a) the word “comprising” does not exclude the presence of other elementsor acts than those listed in a given claim;

b) the words “a”; “an”; “the”; etc. preceding an element does notexclude the presence of a plurality of such elements;

c) any reference signs in the claims do not limit their scope; and

d) several “means” may be represented by the same item or hardware orsoftware implemented structure or function

e) each of the disclosed elements may be comprised of hardware portions(e.g., including discrete and integrated electronic circuitry), softwareportions (e.g., computer programming), and any combination thereof;

f) hardware portions may be comprised of one or both of analog anddigital portions;

g) any of the disclosed devices or portions thereof may be combinedtogether or separated into further portions unless specifically statedotherwise; and

h) no specific sequence of acts is intended to be required unlessspecifically indicated

1. A user profiling system comprising: a user input device configured toenable a user to input user command/control selections; a processoroperatively coupled to the user input device and configured to receivethe user command/control selections, wherein the processor is configuredto identify volume related command/control selections and to utilizeidentified volume related command/control selections as an input into auser profile.
 2. The profiling system of claim 1, wherein the processoris configured to identify a previously established volume level ofreproduced content and to compare the identified volume relatedcommand/control selections to the previously established volume level.3. The profiling system of claim 1, comprising a remote control devicehaving the user input device.
 4. The profiling system of claim 1,comprising a memory operatively coupled to the processor and configuredto store the user profile.
 5. The profiling system of claim 1,comprising a memory operatively coupled to the processor and configuredto store the user profile, wherein the processor is configured toprovide recommendation of content based on the stored user profile. 6.The profiling system of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured toprovide recommendations of content comprising at least one of audio andaudiovisual content.
 7. A method of determining user profile data for aprofiling system, the method comprising: receiving a usercommand/control selection; determining whether the received usercommand/control selection is a volume related command/control selection;storing profile data related to the received user command/controlselection if the received user command/control selection is a volumerelated command/control selection.
 8. A program portion stored on aprocessor readable medium for use with a user profiling system, theprogram portion comprising: a program segment for analyzing receiveduser command/control selections relating to currently reproducedcontent; a program segment for determining whether the received usercommand/control selection is a volume related command/control selection;and a program segment for initiating a storing of profile data relatedto the received user command/control selection if the received usercommand/control selection is a volume related command/control selection.9. The program portion of claim 8, wherein the program segment forinitiating the storing of profile data related to the received usercommand/control selection comprises a program segment for initiatingstoring of data indicating a user preference if the received usercommand/control selection is a volume increase related command/controlselection.
 10. The program portion of claim 8, further comprising aprogram segment for providing recommendation of content based on thestored user profile.